November 21, 2011
Good Medicine
Sharon Jaynes
Today’s Truth
“He sent forth his word and healed them,” (Psalm 107:20 NIV).
Friend to Friend
When I was in high school, I traveled to Europe with a group of students to study abroad. My family was falling apart, and yet I felt compelled to leave the safety of my friends to spend 12 weeks with strangers. A big part of me did not want to go. Being a new Christian, I depended on my friends to keep me afloat. However, God was trying to teach me how to swim on my own.
Before I left my group of Christian girlfriends gave me a gift. They had taken a large medicine bottle and filled it with a homemade remedy. A handwritten label was taped to the outside with the following instructions:
For: Miss Sharon Edwards
PBP 71240
Take as needed for uplifting of the spirit.
May be followed by faith and prayer for faster relief.
Vitamin PTLa
Filled by SIC
Inside the medicine bottle were 100 Bible verses written on small strips of paper and rolled up like tiny scrolls. These verses were my medicine, the pharmacists were my Sisters in Christ, and the vitamins were Praise the Lord Anyway brand.
In Mark 1:32-34, we are told that people brought many who were sick to Jesus, and He healed various diseases. Matthew Henry describes Jesus’ words as a “panpharmacon—a salve for every sore.” Don’t you just love that? That’s what my teenage girlfriends in God gave to me. They gave me God’s Word, a panpharmacon, to take with me on my trip. He was the Great Physician, His Word was the medicine, and my GiGs were the pharmacists who fulfilled the prescription.
That gift of the heart was given to me more than 30 years ago, and yet I’ve carried it with me through high school, college, marriage and many, many moves. I have kept that bottle of love with me at each crossroad and bend in the road. That’s the power of a woman’s words to her friends. We never know how a small act of kindness will touch someone’s heart for many years to come. We never know how offering a just the right verse from the Bible at the right moment can heal an ailing soul.
As you listen to God today, let’s ask Him if there is a particular verse He wants you to share with a friend.
Let’s Pray
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for my girlfriends in God that You have sent into my life at various stages and seasons. I pray I will be the kind of friend who can share the healing words in Your Holy Word when I see a hurting soul.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Now It’s Your Turn
Additional Scripture Reading:Psalm 17:1-15
Ask God if there is a friend who needs a specific word from The Word today.
Write a list of five of your favorite verses and keep them in your purse.
I love to hear friends’ favorite Bible verses. Log onto www.facebook.com/sharonjaynesand tell me yours.
More from the Girlfriends
Do you find yourself longing to hear God’s voice – not as a once-in-a-lifetime experience but on a daily basis? If so, Sharon’s new 15-Minute Devotional book, Listening to God Day-by-Day,will help you do just that. It is an expanded version of the smaller book, Extraordinary Moments with God. In it you will find 100 devotions to help you become a woman who detects God’s still small voice in all of life. This is a warm, fun, tender look at recognizing some of the wonderful and unexpected ways God reaches out to us in the middle of our busy days. And for more on how to use your words to bless others see Sharon’s best-selling book, The Power of a Woman’s Words.
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Girlfriends in God
Matthews, NC 28106
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